I think there's a gross exaggeration when it comes to EA Games. The games they make aren't actually of a substantially inferior quality that I wouldn't pirate them.
Most recent title produced by EA that you've played is?
Most recent title I've played is Spore, and it's an
enormous disappointment. Putting aside the stupid download manager that you MOOST EENSTALL to play the game (though at least it doesn't lock you out of your games when you loose your connection), it's a good bit less than what was advertised. While it is a fun game, it's extremely far from the paragon of sandboxy fun it was supposed to be- it takes an hour to get from cell to space, and while you choose the shapes and color of your buildings, vehicles, creatures, and spaceships, that's about it. Just paint. And then you go into space where its near-constant SAEV KIRK'S ROCK FROM ECOD1SAZT0R/P1RAT3S. Fun, yes. Certianly worth ten-twenty dollars. Thirty's a stretch. But
fifty dollars? That's just silly. The only games that I paid fifty dollars for and didn't regret it are Paper Mario: TTYD, Pikmin 2, Pokemon XD, and... pretty much every
gamecube pre-Wii Nintendo game I own(ed), besides that stupid TV show game that I'm not sure I even bought myself...
And then they release the Galactic Adventures pack for
another friggin fifty! It's the exact same deal as the main game- a fun, slightly gimmicky weak-sandbox game, worth twenty to thirty dollars. It's an
expansion pack, it should cost less than the game itself!
EDIT:
Oh, and my opinion on the thing with EA having good devs; it's a thing that happens often in corporate settings, the company hires an expert, and then management decides they know better than him. Isn't the fact that he would do a better job than the people who are in control
the entire point of hiring him?